The Novel Hermit

daydreaming about books

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW | Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick & Suzanne Young

Comments : 5

cp+sy - jlfJust Like Fate by Cat Patrick & Suzanne Young
August 27, 2013
Simon Pulse
(* won this from Angie @ Beneath the Jackets)

Cat Patrick: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Suzanne Young: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline’s been at Gram’s bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape–both her family and the reality of Gram’s failing health. So when Caroline’s best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram’s side, or go to the party and live her life.

The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline’s fate into two separate paths—and she’s about to live them both.

Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she’s ever wanted.

Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending…

myreview

First sentence: “There are exactly sixteen minutes left in math class when there’s a faint double knock on the classroom door, and we all perk up.”

When you have to make a decision (small or big), do you ever ponder about the outcomes? Do you ever think how different your life would be if you picked the other one? Just Like Fate presents that option for Caroline. Caroline’s grandmother is dying. Caroline has to make a decision – to STAY at the hospital, sharing the last moments with her grandmother or to GO to a party with her best friend, missing the chance to properly say goodbye to her grandmother. When she makes her choice, we are presented with two different outcomes. 

Here are the main differences between the two universes and my thoughts.

I think Just Like Fate is a good read. I didn’t dislike it; I liked that it was light and easy to read, but I thought a lot of things should’ve been flushed out more. For instance, the main problem I had with the book is the lack of emotional connection to the plot and to Caroline. Right off the bat, I didn’t sympathize with Caroline. Don’t get me wrong, I liked that she was flawed, but she was rather horrible, especially with how she dealt with her differing situations in both parallel universes. How am I supposed to care about Caroline and her grandma’s relationship when 1. Caroline is extremely unlikeable and 2. we never see that interaction between Caroline and her grandmother in the first place to sympathize for her? (I know we don’t get that interaction because y’know, her grandmother dies.)

Usually, when I read YA books about death of a love one, I bawl my eyes out because I connect with the main character and their struggles. Just Like Fate did not do that. I don’t feel like Caroline’s grandmother’s death had a huge impact on Caroline. Her grandmother seems forgotten, despite how important her death should be in the story, in favor for the “romance” with trivial boy problems. I feel like we only scratched the surface of the story and the characters. If the story focused more on exploring the relationship between all the characters (specifically Caroline, her siblings, her parents, and her best friend) instead of on the romance parts, then I would’ve connected with the story better.

Nevertheless, it was a good, light book, albeit flawed in how the characters and plot was developed.

gradeC-

Reviews

STACKING THE SHELVES {16}

Comments : 4

stsfestivo

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews where you share books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. You can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  So many wonderful things happened in the past day (got to see No Man’s Land, received Ian McKellen’s autograph, and got a new laptop – a hand-me-down from my sister but in excellent condition). A post about that later, hopefully. 

won1

 AND

Friday night, I went to see Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Billy Crudup in No Man’s Land. It was very British, but nonetheless, brilliant. All the actors did a phenomenal job in their roles. ANDDD I got Ian McKellen’s autograph.


(It’s a bit smudged, but readable.)

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

ALSO.

If you have missed my previous posts, check them out: 

How was your week? What books did you pick up? Have you read any of the books I got in the mail?

Discussion

THE THREE C’S: CANDID CONVERSATIONS WITH CEE | Indecisiveness In A Bookstore

Comments : 21

three c's

I am pretty horrible at making decisions. 

I can’t make one quickly even if my life depended on it. My friend, who also shares the indecisiveness trait, and I take forever to decide on where to go. We always have to plan in advance or we will never go anywhere. When I’m in a restaurant (usually one I haven’t been to before), I’d spend ten minutes freaking out about all the choices the menu presents me and what-feels-like-an-hour-but-it’s-actually-been-another-fifteen-or-twenty-minutes to finalize my decision.


(This is an accurate depiction of what it looks like in my head.)

Bookstores are the worst for me. Don’t misunderstand me, I love bookstores. It’s the best place in the world, but there are SOOO many choices. How am I suppose to choose which book I want to get? I swear the gods, buddha, the devil, or all of them (???) are conspiring against me when it comes to books. I want to buy everything, but I can’t because I’m poor. :(  (If only I had all the money in the world.) 

Here is what always happen when I go to a bookstore:

  1. I go to the (used) bookstore because I’m feeling bored or I just want to see what’s on the shelf. (But let’s be honest, I go there because it’s the closet place to heaven.)
  2. I browse the literature and the YA section, carefully searching for books by my favorite authors or by authors I had always meant to read.
  3. I find a book (or four) that I really want. I look at how much it is. Cheap or expensive, I make a pros and cons list in my head – reasons why I want the book (“I need to read a book by this author,” “oooh, it has a pretty cover,” “it’s a(n) book/author I need to have in my own collection of books,” “I want it, plain and simple”) and reasons why I shouldn’t get it (“you don’t need it” and “YOU DON’T HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO THROW AROUND”). Tough decisions.
  4. I continue to walk around the store, still holding onto the books I want, as I run through all the reasons again and again in my head. I don’t want to get buyer’s remorse. (I hate feeling that.)
  5. I set the books down and take out my phone. I type out, “HELP. [Insert description of the book.] IDK. SHOULD I GET THIS BOOK? AHHHH. TELL ME WHAT TO DOOO” and send it to a couple of my friends, hoping they will tell me what I should do (and I mean tell me not to get it). But my friends are usually assholes and take forever to text me back, and that makes me soooo antsy. WHY U NO TEXT ME BACK IN THIS BOOK CRISIS I AM IN? And when they do text me back, it’s always “GET IT,” enabling me, which is THE WORST. I DON’T NEED BOOK ENABLERS. I NEED BOOK DENIERS. 
  6. I then ponder why I make friends with bookish people. They are no help in my time of need. 
  7. After nearly three or more hours of pondering and wandering around the bookstore, I finally make a decision.

 

That’s right, it takes me over three hours to make a decision on whether to buy a book or not. So if we hang out and we end up in a bookstore, I hope you’re cool with spending half your day in there.  It’s what I do. 

The only thing I can come up with that can help me with my indecisiveness (or just avoid it) is to not go to bookstores. Simple as that, right? NO. It’s not possible. I love bookstores. I, nor you, can force myself from never going. It’s home to my heart.

How do you make decisions when it comes to buying books in a bookstore? Are you an indecisive person like me who takes hours to actually decide? Or are you the type of person that can buy things very quickly? How do you deal with your indecisiveness? 

Waiting on Wednesday

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY | Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Comments : 5

wowfestivo

Waiting On is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

rr-fgFangirl by Rainbow Rowell
September 10, 2013
St. Martin’s Press
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Pre-order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Why I’m waiting?

Fangirl is basically my life story. At least, it is about my fandom life. Fandom is an important part of my life.  Starting from when I was in middle school, I had to find outlets for my growing interest in pop culture. Forums, social networking sites, and fanfiction created a community where I could bond with others who shared my interests when my school friends did not. I cannot imagine having to leave behind all that I hold dear to me in fandom. 

I feel an extremely strong connection to this book.  “THIS IS YOU. READ ME,” the book would shout at me if it had a mouth and a voice. It’s extremely relatable. I’m sure many of us feel this way too. All of us have obsessed over TV shows/movies/books/whatever to the point that it consumed our every waking moments.  (Hell, I managed (or still haven’t managed) to pull myself out of the Pacific Rim fandom.)  I’m just really excited. The synopsis, that gorgeous cover art. I NEED TO GET MY HANDS ON THIS BOOK. GIMME.

What books are you waiting on?

Stacking the Shelves

STACKING THE SHELVES {15}

Comments : 10

stsfestivo

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews where you share books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. You can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! Lots of books this week! You do not know how excited I was when the mailman left books on my doorstep. I feel like I had been waiting for them forever! Absolutely a book heaven-type week for me! AND my BFF came home for two weeks from Japan, giving me the best gifts EVER. 

GIFTED

  • Neko Darake by Yokoyama Kimuchi (THE BEST GIFT EVERRRRR from my BFF. CAT BUTTS.)

WON

Really excited for these books. I’ve heard excellent things about all the books (minus the ARCS ’cause those aren’t out yet). As soon as I finish typing up a review for Just Like Fate and finish reading another book, I will get started on Throne of Glass ’cause I plan on seeing Sarah J. Maas at the end of the month.

ALSO.

If you have missed my previous posts, check them out: 

How was your week? What books did you pick up? Have you read any of the books I got in the mail?

Holy Mother Cover

Cover Change | If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Comment : 1

judgingabookbyitscoverSTpng

Inspired by Pure Imagination Blog and Stacked.

Let’s be honest, nobody follows the age-old cliché that tells us not to judge a book by its covers. If you say you do, I am side-eying you. Book covers are the first thing that attracts any of us readers to a book. Before you pick up a book, the cover can essentially make or break a book. If I don’t like a cover design, I won’t pick it up. Lucky for us, publishing companies publish different cover designs, especially when a paperback book comes out. Sometimes we like it, sometimes we don’t. Whatever the changes with cover designs, I will discuss it. 

Today, we look at the cover of If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

I actually like both covers of If I Stay. I like that they portray aspects of things that are in the book. I don’t have anything that I absolutely dislike about them. They’re both different, yet attractive to my eyes.

I really love the colors in the hardcover cover, aka the “before” one. The sky blue makes me think of moments when you’re laying on the ground, looking up into the sky and pondering about life. That’s what happens in If I Stay, the main character, Mia, reflecting on her life or death choices by remembering the past as she lay in the ICU. I love the white branches and the pink flower. Over at the Reader Girlz blog, there’s a cover story about the cover. Apparently, Gayle Forman said, “thought about how the flower amid the barren branches represented Mia holding on, the living thing amid all the death. But also how those branches represented the roots of her extended family that could sustain her if she chose to stay.” I thought it was a perfect/accurate analysis of what I thought too.

What I like about the paperback cover, aka the “after” one, is how the girl is pictured. She’s looking up into the sky, which makes me think of my interpretation of the “before” cover. It makes me imagine Mia lying on her back, not moving an inch, her eyes staring up, and having her life flash before her eyes, after she’d been thrown out of the car after the accident. I like the effect of the smoke (or fog) in the background. I am reminded of car smoke and how she is living in a fog, not sure of what her decision will be. 

I’m not a fan of quotations from authors on the front cover. It clutters up the space. I prefer my covers to be nice and clean. I would rather have the cover speak for itself. And for this particular cover, the quote irks me because it’s extremely misleading. How so? It suggests that If I Stay is similar to Twilight, like it’s also a vampire love story, which is totally wrong. For those who have read this book and know what this book is about, If I Stay is the opposite. It’s a contemporary YA novel about a girl who gets into an accident and has to decide whether to live on or let go as she examines both her past and present. It’s a book that deals with living, death, romance, music, choices. For someone to liken this to Twilight is absolutely shoddy advertisement.

Final thought: I like both covers. To me, they’re great representation of the If I Stay story. 

(And if you want to read the cover story of the hardcover If I Stay, check it out here. It’s a great read.)

What did you think of the cover design and the changes? Do you like it? Is there anything you would change?